Igus
Sensor provider Atronia acquired
Igus acquired a majority stake in the Portuguese company Atronia Tailored Sensing in March 2024. The sensor cooperation partner has been 'teaching plastic products from Cologne to feel' for five years.
Igus has been investing in research and development for years in order to develop new types of 'smart plastics' - plain bearings, energy chains and cables that are equipped with sensors and integrated into the Internet of Things. Intelligent predictive maintenance software then calculates optimum maintenance times and alerts technicians in good time via email and text message in the event of critical conditions in order to prevent expensive system downtime. The Portuguese company Atronia Tailored Sensing, which is responsible for determining the current status of Igus products, has been a cooperation partner in the development of these smart plastics for around five years.
"By acquiring Atronia, we can coordinate the processes, systems and teams of both companies even better, which will lead to synergies and efficiency gains in the long term," says Igus Managing Director e-chain systems Michael Blass. "This will enable us to mass-produce products for the Industry 4.0 era and make them accessible to small and medium-sized companies with limited budgets and little previous experience."
Igus and Atronia met in 2019 as stand neighbors at the Sensor + Test trade fair in Nuremberg. "After initial technical discussions, it quickly became clear that both companies had the same vision of a barrier-free Industry 4.0," says Richard Habering, Head of the smart plastics business unit at Igus. This led to the first joint project. Atronia built the electronics for a sensor called 'EC.W'. Mounted on the opening bars of energy chains, the sensors record the actual condition and the remaining service life of the chain side parts. The company now manufactures several hundred modules from the 'i.Cee' series from Igus in Portugal. The modules make it possible to evaluate the sensor data from anywhere in the world using a web-based dashboard, exploit the maximum service life of products and optimally plan maintenance work.
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